Ladies&#39; and children&#39;s wearing apparel



20, 1957 H. c. BEACH 2,803,014

LADIES AND CHILDREN'S WEARING APPAREL Filed Sept. 10, 1956 IN V EN TOR. #54 'N c. BEA c H ATTORNEYS LADIES AND CHILDRENS WEARING APPAREL Helene C. Beach, East Cleveland, Ohio, assignor of onehalf to Marvin G. Shaps, South Euclid, Ohio Application September 10, 1956, Serial No. 608,972 1 Claim. (Cl. 2-105) This invention relates to improvements in wearing apparel for ladies and children and more particularly, to

sleeveless garments therefor, such' as dresses, blouses and similar garments.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a garment having a portion of its armhole formed 'by a gusset or other suitable portion.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an expansible portion carried by the body of a garment and forming a portion of the armhole thereof so that the perimeter of the armhole is normally contracted in size to close the armhole to prevent over exposure of the body but is able to be expanded to pennit arm movement while not only preventing over exposure but also minimizing breaking stresses on the garment and the tendency of the garment to pull up at the waist of the wearer.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a garment having an expansible portion adjacent the armhole thereof with the fabric of said portion substantially matched with the body material of the garment.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an expansible portion in a garment adjacent an armhole with said portion located and constructed so that it is normally covered by the arm but expands, during movement of the arm, along the exposed area thereof not covered by the arm, with the exposed area being substantially matched with the body material of the garment so as to appear to be a continuous part thereof.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a garment characterized by structural simplicity, econapparent from the accompanying drawings and description and the essential features will be set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front view of -a sleeveless blouse garment for ladies as it is flattened upon a supporting surface;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view-of the blouse in Fig. 1 as it would appear when worn with the wearer removed;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a shirred, expansible, i-nsert portion or gusset in Fig. 2.;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the garment, similar to Fig. 2, but with the arm of the wearer swung forwardly with the garment oriented in the position it assumes at this time;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the 'expansible, g'us'set I "shaped portion of 'Fig. 4 with the arm removed; while Fig. "6 is a side elevational view, similar to Fig. 2, with nitecl States PatentfO "ice a downwardly extending arm covering the expansible, gusset shaped portion of the garment.

Before the garment here illustrated is specifically described, it is to be understood that the invention here involved is not limited to the structural details or arrangements of parts here shown since garments embodying the present invention may take various forms. It also is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein employed is for purposes of description and not of limitation since the scope of the present invention is denoted by the appended claim.

The present disclosure is concerned with the design problems and the problems experienced by ladies and children in connection with sleeveless garments, such as dresses, blouses and similar garments. For purposes of illustration, a sleeveless blouse for ladies is here shown, but sleeveless blouses, dresses, and similar garments each present these basic problems. The difficulties experienced by the wearer include: (1) if the armhole of the sleeveless garment is too large, an undesirable and immodest over exposure of the body results; (2) if the armhole is made sufiiciently small to prevent over exposure, the sleeveless garment will be too tight so that it will interfere with freedom of movement of the arm and the arm movement will tend to break the side seams of the garment or pull it out at the waist; or (3) if the armhole is too tight on any style garment, it will interfere with movement of the arms, and the arm movement will tend to break the side seams of the garment or pull it upwardly at the waist.

The garment design disclosed herein prevents over exposure of the body, permits a snug fit of the armhole about the arms, permits complete freedom of arm movement while minimizing breaking stresses on the garment and the tendency of the garment to pull up at the waist.

The illustrated sleeveless blouse includes a garment body made of flexible material, such as any type cloth, and formed to extend around the upper part of the wearers body, over the shoulders and around the chest. This garment body includes in stitched together relationship a back panel 10, two front panels 11 and 12 with one having a pocket stitched thereon, and a collar 13. The panels are secured together by side seams 18 and 19 and shoulder seams 20 and 21. The garment has armholes 14 and 15 for the upper arm portions 25 with the front and back panels of the garment body forming at least a part of the perimeter of each armhole therein with the remainder of each formed by a gusset or other suitably shaped portion 30 to be described more in detail hereinafter. The armholes 14 and 15 may be made with and are preferably formed with respective facings 16 and 17 secured to the panels to form the armhole perimeters thereof. The garment may be, and is preferably, made with these facings extra wide, approximately twice the normal width, and with short length shoulder seams 20 and 21. These short length shoulder seams locate the armholes closer to the collar than on the usual blouse. However, it should be apparent that changes in the shape, or orientation of these component parts may be easily made and still be within the scope of the present invention.

Portions 30, formed of shirred fabric, may be either secured to the body panels as separate insert portions so as to be carried by the flexible body material or may have their fabric formed as an integral part of the panels so as to be carried thereby. The preferred and illustrated construction is separate insert portions 30 stitched or otherwise secured to the front and back panels straddling these portions. Portions 30 are carried by the panels so as to be a smooth continuation thereof to complete the chest covering instead of being bulging portions of the garment, parts of the sleeve, etc. Portions 30 are located adjacent armholes 14 and 15 to form the remaining part of the perimeter thereof with their respective edges forming parts of the armholes. Although two portions 30 are generally provided on any manufactured garment, it should be understood that a garment with a single portion 30 adjacent only one armhole comes within the scope of the present invention. Since each of the portions 30 is identical and has similar coaction and orientation with its associated armhole, only one will be described in detail hereinafter.

Portion 30 is expansible between contracted and expanded positions with this function being provided by its shirred construction. The fabric of portion 30 extends throughout the area of the gusset shaped portion, and a plurality of vertically-spaced apart and generally horizontally extending elastic threads 31 extend through the gathered fabric to resiliently pull the fabric into horizontally extended rows 32 of vertically extending gathers or folds located between the threads 31'. Hence, these elastic threads resiliently gather the fabric of the portion so that the gathered fabric is expansible.

Portion 30, with its triangular shape and downwardly converging edges 35 and 36, is of a shape commonly called a gusset. The portion 30 is formed generally in the shape of an isosceles triangle in unstressed condition with the base 33 thereof located directly under the armpit and forming the lower part of the armhole 15. The altitude of the triangle, shown in dot-dash lines at 34 in Fig. 3 and extending generally vertically in the drawing, is longer than the base 33 and extends downwardly on the blouse from the armhole. The approximately equal length edges 35 and 36 of the isosceles triangle in Fig. 3 are secured respectively to body panels 12 and by any suitable means, such as stitching.

The expansible portion 30 is normally pulled by the elastic threads 31 to the contracted position shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 so as to close the armhole down to its smallest perimeter and to prevent over exposure of the wearers body, which might be considered immodest or in poor taste. This smallest perimeter may provide either a loose or snug armhole fit around the arm of the wearer but with the snug fit preferred.

However, the resiliency of the elastic threads 31 and the gathered fabric of the portion permit the portion 39 to expand when necessary so the armhole periphery either may expand or contract in size or may change in shape, as the occasion demands. This expandable feature permits free arm movement while not only preventing over exposure of the body during this movement but also minimizing breaking stress on the garment, especially on the vertical seam 19, and any tendency of the garment to pull up at the waist. Hence, a blouse having this invention incorporated therein will not tend to pull out of a skirt 40 in Fig. 4 during arm movement after it has been properly tucked in place.

The garment construction described heretofore provides portion 30 with a shape and location to make it as inconspicuous as possible. When the arm is downwardly extending in the Fig. 6 position, portion 30 is covered by the arm and is not visible as the arm hangs downwardly at the wearers side. Compare Figs. 2 and 6. The triangular or gusset shape of portion 30, with its downwardly tapering edges and 36, makes the portion as inconspicuous as possible while still permitting maximum expansion along its top edge where it is most needed.

The shape, orientation and location of portion 30 also makes it automatically blend with the garment body material of its adjacent panels so as to appear to be a continuous part thereof so that this gusset or portion 30 is as inconspicuous as possible. Portion 30 will automatically blend with the body garment when the arm is in most of its possible positions. Since the front and rear movement of the arm from its vertical position in 4 Fig. 6 will have basically the same effect on portion 30 and the blouse panels, only the frontward swing of the arm will be described in detail.

As the upper arm portion 25 is swung forwardly from the vertical position in Fig. 6 up to approximately a horizontal position, the movement of the arm and of the shoulder muscles will cause a forward stretch of the armhole 15 with the upper portion of the front panel 12 moving forwardly, as shown in the Fig. 4 position, so that a horizontal pull is exerted to stretch the contracted threads 31 and tends to restore the fabric of portion 30 to a planar or unshirred condition. The horizontal orientation of these elastic threads facilitates any horizontal movement of the arm. The greatest expansion in portion 3% will take place in zone or area 30A in Figs. 4 and 5 on the exposed area thereof approximately most remote from the arm elbow and the least expansion will take place in zone or area 30B. Although area 30A is exposed and not covered by the upper arm portion 25, this area 30A will automatically blend with the garment body material and will appear. to be a continuous part thereof so as to be less conspicuous. This is true because the area of the fabric of which portion 30 is made is substantially matched with the flexible body material adjacent thereto on panel 10. The frictional contact between the upper arm portion 25 and the base edge 33 of portion 3% will be greatest at the forward section of portion 30 and will diminish gradually in the rearward direction so that the expansion of the gathered fabric will gradually increase in the rearward direction toward a flat shape until it approximates the appearance of the flat surface of the material on back panel 10 immediately adjacent thereto. Hence, there will be a smooth transition between the flat surface of the material on panel 10 and the fully gathered or fully contracted shirred folds in the zone 30B closest to or hidden by the upper arm portion 25. This expansion will cause the area 30A of portion 30 to assume an approximately flat condition so as to appear to be a smoothly blended and substantially continuous part of panel 10.

As the upper arm portion 25 is swung upwardly above the horizontal toward the vertical position, there will still be a forward pulling force exerted upon the portion 30 so as to expand the vertical zone 30A extending along the right hand margin of portion 30. Of course, as the arm is extended straight upwardly into this position rarely assumed, the pull will be directly upwardly at right angles to the length of the elastic threads 31 so that expansion of the gathered material at the edge of the most exposed body panel, such as panel 10 in Fig. 4, will not be expanded to the degree shown in Fig. 4 to provide this smooth transition or blending of appearance. But even when the arm is in its vertically upwardly extending position, the shirred construction of portion 30 permits the garment to easily give and accommodate itself to the unusual stresses put thereon so that the expandability of portion 30 permits the arm to move more easily to this position and causes the garment to drape more attractively over the body of the wearer.

The expandable portions 30 in Fig. 1 and the wide facing 16 and 17 combine with snug fit of the arrnholes 14 and 15 about the arms to provide additional advantages. Short length shoulder seams 20 and 21 may be used so that the facings 16 and 17 do not unduly overhang beyond the shoulders but blend in smoothly with the shoulder contours while the construction of the garment still protects over exposure of the body. The armholes 14 and 15 are at all times maintained closer to concentric relation with respect to the upper arm portions 25 than on a conventional blouse construction. The illustrated construction also eliminates any large gap between the arm and armhole at any one point so as to prevent over exposure, as found on blouses of conventional construction. Also, the expansibility of portions 30 permits the .armholes 14 and 15 to be expanded to compensate for different size arms found on women of the same blouse size; this expansible feature permits snug engagement between the armhole perimeters and the arms on women of all sizes who wear the same blouse size.

Various changes in details and arrangement of parts can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from either the spirit of this invention or the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A sleeveless garment comprising a garment body of flexible material having an upper portion adapted to cover the wearers body above the waistline and including front and rear panels secured together along their upper and side edges, the upper side edge portions of the panels being cut away to provide armhole forming edges, the side edges of the panels below said armhole forming edges being angularly related to form a substantially V-shaped opening, an inverted substantially triangular shaped insert set in said V-shaped opening and having its side edges secured to the respective angularly related edge portions of the panels, with the upper edge of the insert 6 coacting with the cut away edge portions of the panels to complete the formation of a relatively restricted armhole, the pointed end of the insert terminating an appreciable distance above the waistline of the garment so that the insert is normally concealed from view when the wearers arm hangs downwardly at the side, said insert being formed of shirred expansible material that is expansible only in a circumferential direction with respect to the garment, the insert being disposed in a smooth contracted position when the arm of the wearer is in its lowered position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

